Magnetism
by Pale Wolf
Summary: Why does Ranma draw all this trouble to him? Ranma gets drunk, and in the bar meets a woman of supreme skill with an agenda of her own. Who is Kagami Kiru, and what is she after? A crossover with one of my original stories, Duelist.


Disclaimer- Ranma 1/2 is not mine, and my sanity has yet to lapse enough for me to lay claim to it. Many of the theories presented in this prologue belong to the fanfiction community in general, but the theory of magnetism is mine, even though I don't really believe it. However, this is a crossover with Duelist, and Duelist does belong to me. I'd appreciate if you didn't steal anything from this fanfic, although I honestly couldn't do much to you if you did. Plus, if you felt the need to steal that blatantly, I'd probably ignore your fic anyway, since I like to read _good_ stuff. But if you can bring something new to it, go ahead. And if, for some indeterminable reason, you _want_ to write fanfiction for Duelist, contact me and we might be able to work something out.

Warning-This happens not too long after Saffron in Ranma 1/2. You will be spoilt if you have no idea what I'm talking about. As for Duelist... not that important since it's not done, uploaded, or even available, but spoilers will be found throughout this fic. And Duelist, it's a few millenia after the timeline, so spoilers will at the same time be prevalent and rare. Also, on the advice of my pre- reader, I stuck the excuse and the first chapter into a single upload.

(Font specifics: "Bah". Speech, verbal.

_Yah_. Stressed or thought, should be easy to tell by context.

-Dah-. Interruption.)

Magnetism

By Pale Wolf

Excuse

Theory of Magnetism

_There are many theories created to describe the madness that is the life of Saotome Ranma. Many of them pertain to the idea of Chaos. Ranma is theorized to be an incarnation or avatar of the concept. The flaw in this theory: Chaos is freedom. Freedom is what Ranma most lacks._

_Another theory: meddling forces, sometimes divine, sometimes infernal, and sometimes just odd. The reasoning behind the suggested meddling varies. Sometimes the force is trying to forge him for a particular purpose, usually major to the world's fate. Sometimes, it is the reverse, and the force is attempting to keep him out of the affairs of the world, or even kill him. (They generally fail.) Sometimes, similarly, he is being prepared for his future. Sometimes, the force is trying to punish him for some crime, real or imagined. Sometimes the force is just bored, and derives amusement from the madness or his pain, or both._

_Some people think: "That's just how it is"._

_This theory attempts to explain it with physics. The theory of gravity states that objects exert an attractive force towards everything else in proportion to their mass._

_What if 'mass' could be substituted by 'power'? What if Ranma's power manipulated the very workings of chance to draw other individuals, particularly powerful ones, into proximity with him? Of course, the sheer level of power likely required for the draw to reach the observed level is ridiculous, raising two questions._

_How did he get this power?_

_And what will he do with it?_

Chapter One

Broken Mirror, Mirror Broken

Ranma blearily looked up as someone took a seat in the stool next to him. The black-haired girl dropped several coins onto the bar in front of them, and listlessly muttered, "Something _very_ alchoholic."

The bartender took one look at the slight girl and poured into a tall glass, then passed it into a soft, slender hand.

Ranma blinked at her, the fuzz in his brain emerging through his voice. "Heeey, whass wrong?"

The girl glanced sidelong at him, not lowering the glass from her lips. "You're drunk," she stated, flatly.

Ranma shook his head with a solemnity rarely attainable except by the totally drunk. "Nooo. I'm Raaanma." He stuck out his hand for her to shake, but the hand ended up closer to the bartender than to the girl.

She shrugged and leaned across the bar to reach his hand, giving it a firm shake. Contrary to her appearance, her palms were callused and her grip was strong. She raised the glass in her left hand and took a hard slug of the liquor. Lowering the glass, she gulped down the booze and replied, "Kagami Kiru. Problems?"

"Ha!" the drunk martial artist snorted. "Nothin' but problems!"

Kiru nodded attentively, taking a more sedate sip. She gestured to the bottle clutched in Ranma's own hand. "Planning to finish that?"

Ranma's face twisted in a way that was probably meant to be a frown. "Daaamn straight. I'm still toooo... whassa word?"

"Coherent?" Kiru suggested.

"Uh-huh," Ranma nodded, wincing as he... somehow... accidentally hit himself with the bottle. "So Kiiiru, whass wrong?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Wrong? What makes you think _I_ have problems? Oh, and you better drink that fast, before you metabolize everything." She shrugged. "If you really want to get that plastered."

Another drunk-solemn nod, and Ranma tilted back the bottle and started chugging it down.

Kiru saluted him with her glass and followed suit. Having less in her glass than Ranma had in his bottle, she finished first. "So, why _are_ you here, trying to commit suicide by alchohol poisoning?"

Ranma finished his bottle and moved to put it down on the bar. He missed, and it clattered on the floor beside his stool. He concentrated for a moment, and was more sober a moment later (prompting a raised eyebrow from Kiru). "No way out. Pops screwed me over, so I'm stuck in a hole, 'tween total destruction of my own honor and of a whole load of girls, hurting them, and I don't even wanna choose one of them. I'm just today legal to get drunk, and I'm takin' advantage of it."

Kiru signaled to the bartender, and he put a new glass into her hand. She passed it to Ranma, signalling for another. "Well then, happy birthday, Ranma. Enjoy your dulled mind." She slugged back a huge amount of her own booze.

Ranma fingered the glass Kiru had bought him. "Thanks. Better gift than 'nother attemped wedding. So, why're you here?"

Kiru shrugged. "It's my birthday too, actually. Just... The memories act up sometimes. All you can do is get plastered or beat the tar out of something." Another slug of liquor proved her inclination towards the former.

The conversation over, Ranma started in on the glass, actually drinking with more restraint than Kiru. He took the calm as an opportunity to study his drinking companion. Kiru's body was pale-ish, slightly built, and, based on the handshake, rather strong despite all appearances to the contrary. Her hair, reaching down to her shoulder blades, was mostly black, but with streaks of a deep russet shade. Set into her soft face were a pair of deep lavender eyes, expressive, showing a deep melancholy. Her clothes were relatively simple: a pair of close-fitting black shorts and sleeveless black top, under a long, open, powder-blue sleeveless jacket that reached down her legs, with short, soft boots, finished with a pair of forearm warmers of the same colour and material as the long jacket.

She glanced at him as both finished their drinks. "Low on cash?"

Ranma sighed and hung his head. "Yep. Damn hard, keepin' a yen away from Nabiki."

"Want another?"

"Nah. I need to be gettin' back. I'll just enjoy the buzz, then get out."

Kiru shrugged. "Ah, well. Good luck with your-"

Then the bar's roof caved in, a female form dropping in with the chunks of ceiling. Ranma's trained reflexes snapped him into motion, hopping off his stool and onto the bar in a ready stance, a ki technique instantly purging the last of the alchohol from his system.

If he had to guess about the angry-looking girl standing in the middle of the bar, he'd say, with her green hair, voluptous body, near-indecent Chinese clothing, and double wickedly curved swords, that she was an Amazon. His guess was confirmed when she growled and yelled, "Outsider! I will _kill_ you!"

Kiru sighed, and turned around on her stool to face the Amazon. "Lai Ming. Come, have a drink."

Lai Ming growled and charged at the still-sitting Kiru, swords crossed in front of her, ready to slash out in a scissoring motion.

Before she could, Kiru darted forward off the stool, jamming her left forearm, covered by the warmer, into the junction between the two swords, preventing the slash. (Although Ranma would've expected her to get cut, the arm warmer was apparently tough enough as protection against the blades.) As part of the same forward motion, Kiru's right palm snuck up to slam into Lai Ming's breastbone. The strike threw the Amazon back through the bar, into the wall on the opposite side.

The Amazon growled and stood, stabilizing herself after the wooziness of the hit. "You _die_, Outsider!"

Kiru, practically flowing into a mobile, right-side forward stance, glanced to Ranma. "Get the civvies out, I'll handle her."

Ranma nodded cautiously and dropped his stance: Kiru looked like she could handle herself. He somersaulted over Kiru, landing on the floor between the two girls and a large cluster of bystanders. He looked to them as he prepared to defend. "Well? Get out of here!" That apparently ended the shock, as they practically stampeded to the door.

Then Kiru and Lai Ming came together (the Amazon in a charge, the other girl in two long, comfortable strides), and Ranma had to watch. Lai Ming started, using the range advantage her swords offered to slash in with her right-end weapon. In a move that looked distinctly odd, Kiru hopped left, lefted her right leg, and blocked with her left forearm. Then the sense of the move showed as she used the force of Lai Ming's slash to add to her own speed as she twirled clockwise on her left foot, the angle letting her land, at the same time, a right backfist to the base of the Amazon's skull and a wicked sweep with her right leg at the back of her knees. The attack blasted Lai Ming forward into the bar, fouling her on the stools, and before she could recover, Kiru lept at her, two quick knife-hands to the wrists deadening nerves and forcing Lai Ming to drop the swords, a thrust kick to the spine shoving the Amazon's gut into the bar. With a careful application of force, Kiru held her pinned in place, leg at full extension as she stood there. The Amazon flailed to try and hit Kiru, but with her back to her target and no possibility of torso movement, her arms had no chance of reaching, and her legs weren't flexible enough to reach any part of Kiru.

Kiru lowered her hand, and a flicking of her fingers drew one of Lai Ming's swords up off the floor and into her hand, then she angled the sword to rest the cool steel on the back of Lai Ming's neck. "So, plan to keep it up?"

Lai Ming growled, trying to drag herself up, down, or to either side, anywhere to get out from under Kiru's boot. It didn't work: Kiru was too strong, pressing Lai Ming against the counter far too hard for her to move.

Kiru smirked, digging the sword slightly into the Amazon's neck. "Is that your final answer?"

"Shut mouth, Outsider! I kill you!"

"Good night, Lai Ming." With this comment, a bolt of energy shot off Kiru's hand, slamming into the Amazon's head and knocking her out. She dropped the sword to the floor with a clatter, pulling her foot back to stand normally as Lai Ming slumped onto the counter. She dropped a few bills of yen next to the fallen Amazon, nodding to the bartender. "That should cover my bill and the damages, and if she wakes up, cooperate with her, she's dangerous. See ya later." She turned and walked to the door, stopping next to a grumbling Ranma. "What's the problem?"

Ranma shrugged. "Just annoyed. I had to flush my system, but only you got to beat something up. Now I lost my buzz and can't buy anything else."

Kiru smirked. "That sucks. Heading home?"

"Yeah. Not like I have anything else to do. Sad, huh?"

"I'm not qualified to judge that." She laid a hand on his shoulder. "Good luck with your problems. I _might_ see you later." She retrieved her hand and walked out, the door closing behind her.

Ranma stood for a moment, then sighed and stepped out to head home.

On the whole street, he could see no sign of Kiru.

Next Chapter! Kiru's looking for an heir, and stops in at the Tendo Dojo! A lopsided fight for the ages, Kiru versus Akane! And why is Genma so afraid of her?

Author's Notes- Skip if you just don't care. E-mail is miraclewolf at

Let me get this out of the way. Kiru is not Kagami from Conclusions, and has no relation whatsoever to Kagami from Conclusions. I just like the word and it fits Kiru. And Kiru may sound like a Japanese name, but don't bother trying to translate it, it isn't. As for Ranma not being specific about his problems: two things. One, he's drunk. Two, this is something that really annoys me about some fics. Yes, Ranma's life sucks. But he's hardly the type to go around spouting his life story to anyone who'll listen, and you have to remember that while to us and most sane beings, his raising, especially the Neko-ken, is utterly abhorrent, to _him_ it's quite normal. Not saying he likes it, but it's nothing special to him, and thus, he doesn't think it's worth mentioning. Trust me on this, _everyone_ thinks there's absolutely nothing special about them. Just two weeks ago, I interviewed a girl for an assignment (pretty sloppy interview, I'll be the first to admit), and she said, point blank, nothing interesting had ever happened to her. Five minutes later, she realized she did and told me a very interesting story about a lawsuit she was dealing with. I don't think there are any other issues to deal with, do you? Except maybe Kiru. Let's get this off and dealt with right away, alright? She is not a self insert. I am male. If I have an author avatar, male or female, or a self insert, I'm not afraid to tell you.

Oh, and Chaos Theorists, I don't mean any offense, but that's just my opinion. Ranma's life _is_ nuts, but chaotic? He's trapped in a situation (admittedly deranged) where there are no methods of escape, extremely limited paths for him to take, and pressure from all sides. That sounds like a posterboy for order, if you ask me. Of course, this doesn't mean I can't enjoy a good Chaos Theory fic. The operative word being 'good'. There's not much else to talk about here, is there?


End file.
